The present invention relates to an electronic commerce support method and apparatus.
R. Kalakota et al., Frontiers of Electronic Commerce, Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Inc, 1976, pp. 274–288 discloses search, order, payment, return, and so on of products in online shopping.
In the online shopping using a communication network such as Internet or the like, information on products provided therein can be visually and easily identified by a web browser using Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) and Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML), and so on. For placing an order, a desired product may be selected and information associated with the order be inputted.
After the order is completed, a statement of the order indicating the contents and purchase price of ordered products is transmitted through an electronic mail or sent by letter for confirmation. In many cases, ordered product are delivered by some home delivery service in several days. A product such as software electronically available through a network can be immediately downloaded into a storage device in a computer of a buyer.
As to payment for such products ordered through the online shopping, a credit card billing model may be utilized. In this case, an associated credit billing organization or card company bundles monthly trading utilized by the buyer for the past one month, totalizes the amount for revolving payment, and sends the buyer a card utilization statement which also serves as an advance notice of debit. Then, the noticed amount is automatically debited from a bank account specified by the buyer on a predetermined date.
It is expected that in future, the opportunities of utilizing the online shopping for purchasing products will be more and more increased, and products available on networks will extend to daily necessaries and so on, as personal computers and Internet are increasingly spread for domestic use. As the number of available products and the frequency of purchases in the online shopping are increased, it is envisaged that the management of information related to trading will become more complicated.
In the conventional online shopping, a personal computer is not capable of always providing detailed information on each of purchased products, for example, which of purchased products has been delivered, for which product the payment has been made, and so on. Information on ordered products is given to a buyer only when statements of ordered products are delivered from respective sellers to the buyer by letter through a postal service or the like, or only when the products are delivered to the buyer by a home delivery service. It is therefore difficult for a buyer to acquire what the buyer has ordered in the past, whether ordered products have been delivered, how much and when the buyer must pay, and so on when the buyer wants to know such information. In addition, the buyer has difficulties in accessing information on which product has not yet been delivered after a scheduled delivery date had been passed, information on where to inquire about undelivered products, and so on. Further difficulties are encountered in immediately knowing for which product the payment has not been made, how much the total amount sums up for unpaid products, whether the amount of money remaining in the specified account is sufficient to cover previous trading, and so on. Furthermore, it is difficult to check whether the contents of a statement sent to the buyer at a later date are coincident with the contents of orders which were placed far in the past.